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Photo: Knesset spokesperson
Isaac Herzog. His campaign went wrong in its content
Photo: Knesset spokesperson
Sever Plocker

It's not Herzog's campaign that failed, it's his message

Op-ed: Instead of talking about the occupation and the danger of a bi-national state, the Labor chairman became obsessed with the middle class' economic situation, which isn't that bad.

Like many people, I also followed Labor Chairman Isaac Herzog's election campaign in Anat Goren's fascinating documentary on Channel 10. The film exposes the failures of the campaign's organization and performance and avoids delving into the content. In Israel, it's acceptable to assume that the content of the messages has no importance in an election campaign, and that only the way they are conveyed is important.

 

 

In my opinion, this is a baseless assumption. In recent general elections, both in Israel and the world, it turned out that the way the campaign is shaped has no influence, but that its content does have an influence.

 

Let's remember the election campaign of the Likud and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was a faltering and abrupt campaign. I doubt a worse campaign could have been invented. So how did Netanyahu reach what he did? Thanks to the content of his messages.

 

If you're afraid of an Iranian nuclear weapon, Bibi said, vote for me. If you enjoy economic prosperity and your standard of living is rising, vote for me. And if you deeply hate the Arabs at least as much as they hate us, vote for me.

 

It worked. The combination of a good economic situation, in the periphery too, together with the growing Jewish fear of "the Arabs" wherever they are, gave the Likud many extra Knesset seats, despite its failing and amateurish election campaign.

 

Herzog in Anat Goren's documentary. A distorted perception of reality (Photo: Channel 10)
Herzog in Anat Goren's documentary. A distorted perception of reality (Photo: Channel 10)

 

And where did Herzog's campaign go wrong? In the content. Why it's the essence of politics: In a country with a low unemployment rate and zero inflation, an opposition party which seeks to rise to power shouldn’t focus its campaign on the economy. It shouldn't direct its criticism at areas in which the government actually succeeded, thanks to its policy or luck or both.

 

During Herzog's election campaign, I often felt the urge to shout, "Buji, please, stop talking about the cost of living and unemployment and start talking about the real risks in our lives. Tell us the truth."

 

Today I am certain that Buji didn't lie, neither to the public nor to himself. I realized, thanks to Goren's film as well, that the Labor chairman's focus on the economic-social issues didn't stem from an artificial tactic or intentional misleading. Herzog sincerely believed that the economic situation of the Israeli middle class, his potential voters, was bad.

 

The film presents Herzog and those surrounding him (not everyone) as people who were living in a bubble. Indeed, the people who worded the content of the messages in the Zionist Union's election campaign lived in a bubble, but a bubble which is the opposite of what we would think.

 

They adopted the factually wrong perception – without undermining or checking it – that the entire middle class in Israel is groaning under the burden of an intolerable cost of living, a burden which has become the main problem of the Israeli existence. According to this perception, the economy here is sinking, the standard of living of an average family is declining and the fruits of growth are being picked by the tycoons, the banks and the junta of associates.

 

The Herzog campaign's obsession with the economy came at the expense of a marginal to negligible engagement in crucial national issues. The late Ariel Sharon wasn't afraid to say in 2003: The occupation is bad for Israel, and as prime minister I will work to end it. How many times did Herzog make such a statement on the eve of the 2015 elections? The occupation was whitewashed and the danger of deteriorating to a bi-national state was pushed to the bottom of the campaign.

 

Herzog's "dovish" perception was – wrongly – expressed in his scornful criticism against Netanyahu's US Congress speech about the Iranian nuclear program. The scorn acted like a boomerang: The change in the Likud's electoral power began with the Congress speech and the Zionist Union's response to it.

 

Buji Herzog had a very good chance of serving as Israel's prime minister now. Many in the new and old right have had enough of Netanyahu. But his campaign managers are not to blame for the fact that this chance wasn't fulfilled. The withdrawal into the economy bubble and the escape from the results of the occupation distorted Herzog's perception of reality and disconnected him from his possible electorate.

 


פרסום ראשון: 05.31.15, 12:33
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